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Xiahou Ba
Xiahou Ba (rōmaji: Kakō Ha) is Xiahou Yuan's second son and a military general for Wei. He ultimately rebels against Sima Zhao and defects to Shu. Romance of the Three Kingdoms has him fight as an active participant against his former homeland, often being used in Jiang Wei's northern campaigns. Before his playable Dynasty Warriors appearance, he was a generic Wei NPC in Dynasty Warriors 4. His character's height for the franchise is 160 cm (5'3"). He ranked thirteenth place in Gamecity's Dynasty Warriors 7 character popularity poll. In Kessen Ii, his character's height is 175 cm (5'9"). Role in GamesEdit Dynasty WarriorsEdit During a cutscene at the Battle of Wu Zhang Plains in Dynasty Warriors 6, Xiahou Ba is the victim of an ambush conducted by Wang Ping. The ambush takes place within one of the many crags of the battle's map, with the latter having his troops fire their crossbows at Xiahou Ba's unit. In Dynasty Warriors 7, Xiahou Ba first appears as in Wei's Story Mode after losing his father at Mt. Ding Jun. To honor his father's memory, he loyally serves the Cao family. During Shu's Story, he appears at Wu Zhang Plains to endanger Zhuge Liang's position. Feeling betrayed by Sima Yi's methods and political undertakings, Xiahou Ba abandons his vengeance for his father and leaves his kingdom. He thinks his own home sought his destruction so he feels no hesitation in forsaking it. By the time Jiang Wei marches to Mt. Niu Tou, Xiahou Ba has affiliated himself with Shu. Rescuing Jiang Wei from Sima Shi, the Shu commander later repays the favor by killing his would-be executioner, Guo Huai. He continues to support Shu at Tao Shui, Duan Gu, and Cheng Du. Unlike the other defenders for Shu's last stand, he dies in battle during Zhong Hui's invasion. His first Legendary Mode lets him participate in the first half of Mt. Ding Jun to defend his father against the massive army led by Zhuge Liang. Xiahou Ba's second Legendary Mode depicts a scenario in which Jiang Wei successfully invades Wei. To eradicate Wei once and for all, Xiahou Ba strikes his former comrades down. Several accuse him of being a traitor, but he justifies he is only following his beliefs. The Xtreme Legends expansion adds a Hero Scenario centered on Xiahou Ba's war efforts during Jiang Wei's attempts to invade Wei. Avoiding Zhuge Liang's past objective, Mount Qi, the young commander instead targets Taoyang to try to attack Deng Ai's flank. Xiahou Ba enters the fray, he and his men first seen inspecting the empty Taoyang Castle. Though a handful of Shu soldiers are ecstatic, Xiahou Ba is suspicious of a trap. In spite of Zhang Yi's assertion, the young warrior entrusts them with the main keep as he investigates alone. His predictions prove correct as Zhong Hui and his battalion ambush him soon after. As he attempts to break through their defenses, he fights countless Wei soldiers and generals in his path to their main camp. Xiahou Ba reminiscences about his father during his grueling push onwards. After he defeats Deng Ai, a tired Xiahou Ba hurries towards one of the castle's exit. A Wei soldier rushes from behind him, screaming vengeance for Guo Huai. A peaceful memory of his past momentarily causes him to lose his focus, his helmet being knocked off as he slays his foe. Wryly content to face his death on the battlefield, Xiahou Ba fights for his survival until nightfall. By then, Jiang Wei is dragging his exhausted comrade away from the castle. Character InformationEdit DevelopmentEdit To contrast characters who fight for patriotism, Xiahou Ba is a young man who fights merely to survive. He was designed to be the Warriors character who is completely clad in armor. His young visage is meant to be a surprise for his metallic appearance. Xiahou Ba was made to look like his father if he didn't have a chubby physique. PersonalityEdit Described as a man who inherits his father's integrity and will, Xiahou Ba at first strives hard to live up to the expectations of the reputed Xiahou family. Like his father, he talks with an easy going tone and doesn't like to brood over the past too much. An independent thinker who doesn't bend to the times, he lives with a positive outlook on life. Xiahou Ba isn't going to be blindly loyal to a cause he doesn't agree with, and he doesn't expect other people to understand him. He has no regrets and doesn't try to victimize himself for his justifications for freedom, taking life as it comes with no complaints. Xiahou Ba talks with a modern day dialect in the Japanese script and at a lazier pace than his motormouth father. He has a habit of dismissing another person's remark several times with a musical beat (いやいやいや). According to Shu soldiers, Xiahou Ba is good friends with Jiang Wei. The duo enjoy one another's company and protect one another from Wei. Jiang Wei tries to keep his friend's hereditary die-hard behavior in check, though Xiahou Ba has mixed feelings about the young commander's methods. Though several of Wei's officers are bitter about his betrayal, the one who takes it the hardest is Guo Huai. Xiahou Ba remarks he thinks his father would have been proud of his decision to desert, which doesn't suit well with the veteran in the slightest. His cinematic for his Hero Scenario reveals that he does regret Guo Huai dying before him. Sima Zhao and Deng Ai are the ones whom sympathize a little with Xiahou Ba's desertion. During his Legendary Mode, his father offers him upbeat praise. * Xiahou Ba (died 255-259), style name Zhongquan (仲權), was a military general of Kingdom of Wei during the Three Kingdoms era of Chinese history. As the second son of Xiahou Yuan, he was from one of the leading military families at the time, but defected to the rival state of Shu Han (which is the regime responsible for his father's death) due to political instability at the capital Luoyang. Biography Service under Cao Wei Early career Xiahou Ba's parents were important figures in Cao Wei; his father, Xiahou Yuan, had fought alongside his distant cousin and founder of Wei, Cao Cao, since the start of the civil wars and was one of the most trusted of Cao's generals, and Xiahou Ba's mother was a sister-in-law of Cao Cao. After Xiahou Yuan was killed at Battle of Mount Dingjun in 219 at the hands of Shu general, Huang Zhong, most of his troops were placed under the command of Zhang He upon advice from Guo Huai, while his private militia and guards were succeeded by his five sons. Xiahou Ba since then displayed great hatred against Shu, and vowed to revenge for his father.[[|1]] In AD 220, Xiahou Yuan's eldest son Xiahou Heng was given his own fiefdom and honorific title, so Xiahou Ba succeeded to his father's hereditary title with a stipend of tax revenues from eight hundred households. In AD 230, when the Minister of Defense, Cao Zhen proposed a shift from defensive to offensive stance against Shu-Han, Lieutenant-General (偏将军) Xiahou Ba was named as the vanguard.[[|2]] He then led a force towards Hanzhong taking a route though the 330 km Ziwu Trail (子午道), and camped in a crooked gorge, near the Xingshi camp set up earlier by Shu general, Wei Yan. There, Xiahou was identified by the local residents, who reported his presence to the Shu forces, and was under heavy attack. As the main army of Cao Zhen had not caught up with the van, Xiahou was threw into a grave situation, where he was forced to rely on personal martial skill to fight his enemies between barricades until Cao arrived.[[|3]] The two forces reached a stalemate and the standoff lasted for a few months, but the development favored Shu-Han side as continuous rainfall over a month had rendered narrow valleys impassable, resulting in Wei army's logistical difficulty. In addition to the disadvantageous weather, Wei Yan had pincered to Wei army's rear and successfully incited some non-Han tribes to oppose Cao-Wei, so Cao and Xiahou begrudgingly consented on the decision to retreat. Since then, Xiahou was made General-of-the-Right, and stationed in Longxi to train troops; he treated both his militia and common soldiers well, and gained their support. edit] As a trusted aide of Cao Shuang In the 240s Xiahou became the Marquis of Bochangting and a known associate of Cao Shuang, who was the son of the deceased Cao Zhen and leader of the dominant faction in Wei politics. When Cao Shuang decided to wage war against Shu to enhance his personal influence and reputation, Xiahou was made Protector-of-the-Army and came under command of Xiahou Xuan, who was Xiahou Ba's son in the clan. For the ensuing campaign, however, the honor of leading the van fell into the hands of Guo Huai, whom Xiahou Ba disliked. This time, Wei forces chose the shorter Tangluo Trail into Shu territory, but again experienced logistic problem as a long section of the trail had no water source. As a result, the Wei forces were forced to retreat, and many soldiers merely died of thirst along the way back. After the war, Guo, due to his timely withdrawal of troops, was granted a higher military authority over Xiahou Ba. From AD 244 to 249, Xiahou Ba would play into the hands of Guo, who held authority to temporarily command him when a military crisis arose. In AD 247, when the leaders of Qiang tribe and Hu tribe rebelled against Wei, Xiahou Ba stationed at Weixi, and was under attack from Shu commander, Jiang Wei, who came to support the rebellion. Together with Guo, Xiahou repelled Jiang's attack, and struck the Qiang rebels, forcing many to submission.[[|7]] However, E Zhesai (蛾遮塞) of Qiang, and Zhi Wudai (治无戴) of Hu still insisted on fighting, so the war was fragmented into battles that dragged on to 248, wherein Jiang Wei again led Shu forces to the aid of the rebels. At this point, it is clear that Guo, instead of Xiahou Xuan, was the actual commander on the field to give out orders; for instance, when Guo decided to attack Jiang's subordinate, Liao Hua, Xiahou Ba was ordered to tail Jiang's main troop to the west. Upon knowing Liao was under attack, Jiang harshly returned to Liao's assistance just as Guo predicted, and the rebels severed ties with Shu.[[|9]] As Jiang was worn out from the travel, so was Xiahou Ba, but the glory and merit of subjugating the rebellion went to Guo Huai, who was made a Xianghou (Marquis of a village). On the contrary, Xiahou Ba virtually received nothing for his effort in the campaign. Service under Shu Service under Wu Journey to the west In 249, after a coup d'état by Sima Yi against Cao Shuang, a lot of Cao's affiliates were also put to death; being a close friend and associate of Cao, Xiahou Ba was sensitive to the political development and grew suspicious of the Sima fraction. Soon, Xiahou Xuan, who had the staff of authority to command troops over Liang and Yong provinces, was called back to the capital in name of a promotion. Thus, Xiahou Ba discussed the issue with Xiahou Xuan, and persuaded the latter to flee with him to Shu-Han. But Xiahou Xuan refused and said "I won't live as a guest in a kingdom of barbarians! (吾岂苟存自客於寇虏乎)" What further perturbed Xiahou Ba was the person who succeeded Xiahou Xuan's former position was none other than Guo Huai, whom Xiahou Ba had a personal feud with. Therefore, Xiahou Ba started his lone journey into Shu. On his way to Shu, Xiahou lost his way and went into a dead end in a valley, where he ran out of food and was forced to kill his horse as a last resort. He kept walking until his leg was crippled, then he laid beneath a shadow from a large rock, and asked the travelers for direction, but his geometry still could not figure out how to get out from the dead end.[[|10]] When the locals reported the presence of a lame beggar who looked alike to the great general Xiahou Ba who attacked them years ago, the Shu emperor, Liu Shan, hurriedly sent a rescue team to escort his brother-in-law to his capital of Chengdu. Years ago, one of Xiahou Ba's sisters was abducted by Liu Bei's military general, Zhang Fei, and was "made" the wife of the latter. As a consequence, the Liu clan and Xiahou clan were linked together though Liu Shan's marriage with Zhang's daughter. That was why Liu Shan called his son "Nephew of Xiahou Family". Whether it was a political reason or a family issue, Xiahou was promoted to General of Chariots and Cavalry, wherein general Xiahou no longer could ride a chariot nor a horse well. Later life in Shu Nevertheless, Jiang Wei apparently befriended this old countryman of his, and they went on several campaigns against their mother-country, and nearly failed all of them. The imperial court of Cao Wei, thus, pardoned Xiahou Ba's sons on account of Xiahou Yuan's role in the founding of the empire. Instead they were exiled to Lelang in present day North Korea. At the time Xiahou was already at his 60s (if not 70s), but he was still active in social life. A story about that was recorded in "Folklore of Yi Regions," which says Xiahou wanted to befriend Zhang Yi, who was famous for subjugating the southern barbarians and was one of the most celebrated generals of Shu-Han back then. When Xiahou first met Zhang Ni, he told the latter:" Although I'm not close to you, I have already entrusted wholly to you for a long time, I hope you would understand this." Zhang Ni responded: "I don't know you, and you don't know me. The rationale is on the other end, how can you say you rely on me? I hope you save your words and continue this talk three years later." This incident was circulated within Shu, and knowledgeable persons and scholars agreed on Zhang's reply and took Xiahou as a joke. As a newcomer from Wei, Xiahou must have had faced discrimination and distrust from his colleagues, but due to his complicated background, he was trusted by Liu Shan, and highly valued by another defector of Wei, Jiang Wei. Once, Jiang asked Xiahou if Sima, who gained control of Wei court, would attack Shu, Xiahou replied: "they just recently established hegemony, so they will not indulge in foreign affairs. However, there is a young Zhong Hui, who will be a threat to both kingdoms of Wu and Shu." Believing Xiahou's views that Sima would not handle border issues for some time, Jiang revived Zhuge's strategy on constantly waging wars against Wei, and brought Xiahou with him on his expeditions. Xiahou distinguished himself in Jiang's only big victory in his campaigns, which was the Battle of Didao, after the battle, he was not mentioned again in historic records. According to Records of Three Kingdoms, Xiahou Ba succeeded Deng Zhi as the General of Chariots and Cavalry after his death in 251, and Zizhi Tongjian noted he was alive in 255. Records of Three Kingdoms noted Xiahou Ba was not alive in 259, when Liao Hua and Zhang Yi were described as his successors to the position, so Xiahou must have had died between 255 to 259. Category:Characters Category:Jin Warriors